The Chief Executive John Lee says a proposed health code system for Hong Kong will be used only for identifying coronavirus patients or those likely to have been infected. No date has been set to roll out the update, which will introduce real-name registration for all users of the LeaveHomeSafe app, and a traffic-light style colour-coded system to categorise patients and inbound travellers. Maggie Ho reports:

On Tuesday, the SAR reported 2,767 new cases, while the Hospital Authority announced it had to cut back on some non-emergency services due to the worsening pandemic. Wendy Wong reports:

Researchers at the Chinese University are calling on recovered coronavirus patients to take part in the SAR's first citywide long Covid study. People with long Covid are those who have recovered but still have persistent symptoms, such as fatigue or poor memory, four weeks or longer after their initial infections. The team hopes it will provide a better understanding of the condition and help frame future healthcare policies. It is also rolling out a separate initiative to analyse 1,000 long Covid patients' gut micro-organism profiles. Professor Ng Siew-chien is part of the research team and spoke to Frank Yung:

The business sector is calling on mainland authorities to increase the quota for business people crossing the border to Guangdong via the Shenzhen Bay Port. Right now, 2,000 new quarantine places for travellers from Hong Kong are provided each day and allocated via a ballot system. 100 Hong Kong business owners and DAB lawmakers have signed a petition to the Shenzhen government, asking for another 500 quarantine rooms to be made available each day for business travellers. Kennedy Wong, a DAB lawmaker representing the import and export sector, spoke to Natale Ching:

The Executive Council has approved an across-the-board pay hike of 2.5 percent for all civil servants. Frank Yung reports:

Citybus and New World First Bus will merge to form a single franchise. The government says the merger will not result in any fare changes for existing routes, while the new franchise says it will look at revising routes and fares. Natale Ching reports:

The Chief Operating Officer of Citybus says it is the 'right time' and 'necessary' for a merger between his company and New World First Bus. Richard Hall said rather than reducing competition and choice to passengers, the single brand could enhance services and routes. He said while the pandemic and new train services had affected bus patronage, the company would focus on developing new routes into the northern New Territories, as well as opening up new operating bases away from the city to attract new recruits. He spoke to Samantha Butler:

The Centre for Food Safety says people should pay attention to sodium levels in some dim sum dishes, saying excessive sodium intake can lead to health issues, such as hypertension. It tested 120 dim sum samples, including 12 types of dim sum and four types of sauce. Among the samples, it said the sodium content of shrimp siu mai, spring rolls with shrimp and steamed minced beef balls was relatively high. Christine Wong said although the general sodium content in dim sum had gone down when compared to previous studies, consumers should still be cautious. She spoke to Kelly Yu:

A head of an NGO says the education level and Chinese-language skill of ethnic minorities meant the group was "disproportionately affected" during the fifth Covid wave. A survey it released on Tuesday showed almost half of the 937 people it interviewed from February to April had lost their jobs. The executive director of Unison, John Tse, told Ben Tse that a better policy was needed for teaching Chinese as a second language:

NASA says it is "just getting started" with new discoveries in the universe, after releasing stunning photos taken by its James Webb Space Telescope. The US$10 billion telescope was launched on a rocket over six months ago and sent 1.5 million kilometres into the universe. Among the images released were ones showing the Southern Ring Nebula, a dying star approximately 2,000 light years away, and a section of the universe teeming with galaxies. Annemarie Evans spoke to David Baker, a UK-based space consultant, for his reaction to the first image released: